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Ontario’s high-speed rail project to be led by David Collenette

The province has tapped a former federal transportation minister to lead the charge toward high-speed rail in Southwestern Ontario by 2025.

David Collenette, a Liberal cabinet minister under three former prime ministers including Jean Chretien, will lead the provincial government’s high-speed rail advisory team as the landmark project moves forward.

The former Toronto MP retired from politics in 2004 and also held veterans affairs and national defence cabinet posts in his 30-year political career.

Last year, the government began early design work for the estimated $20-billion high-speed rail line between Windsor and Toronto and is spending $15 million on an environmental assessment study. The formal environmental assessment is expected to begin this spring, according to the province’s website.

Under the Liberals’ plan, the first high-speed rail line between London and Toronto could be running by 2025. The London-to-Windsor connection would follow by 2031.

The high-speed rail line will serve a region that’s home to more than seven million people. To date, the province has proposed stops in Windsor, Chatham, London, Kitchener-Waterloo, Guelph and Toronto Union Station, with a connection to Pearson International Airport.

The trains would travel up to 250 kilometres per hour on a combination of existing track and new dedicated rail lines.

Travel time between Windsor to Toronto would be cut from over four hours by car to just over two hours by high-speed train. A trip between London and Toronto would take roughly 73 minutes.